Sunday, 20 May 2018

WHEN one thinks of self styled businessman Genius “Ginimbi”
Kadungure, images of the latest top of the range cars, designer clothes
and famous all-white parties are likely to come to mind. This is the man who, along with the often legally scrutinised
Wicknell Chivayo, have taken the Zimbabwean businessman into the social
media age, flashing their shiny trinkets as they fish for likes and
comments on various social networks.Amid all that bravado and wealth, real or imagined, it is hard to think of rural Bubi when the name Ginimbi is mentioned. This is however, where many familiar with the businessman cum socialite believe that his source of his wealth comes from.For years, there has been speculation that Ginimbi and Zodwa Mkandla,
popularly known as Zozo in social circles, are man and wife, although
both have never openly stated their marital status, deftly dancing
around the issue of their perceived marital union.Earlier this year, rumours of their reported marriage were again
sparked by a court case in the capital, after Zozo had been defrauded of
$60 000 by an employee at the mansion that was largely believed to
belong to Ginimbi. In the court case, the State detailed that Zodwa lost
the property at her Domboshava mansion to one of her security
personnel, a man identified as Justice Jasi.Despite Ginimbi and Zozo never having had a white wedding, ironically
given Ginimbi’s love for all things white, the two are allegedly
married under the Marriages Act and therefore co-own all properties.
Besides her alleged links to Ginimbi, not much is known about this self
confessed rural girl, regarded by some as the one with the business
smarts in the relationship, who claims to hail from Bubi.

“Zodwa was born at a place called Bubi in Matabeleland North and went
to school at a place called Mqwassini in the bundus before I moved to
Harare for school,” she once revealed in an interview.While Ginimbi has always been coy about his relationship status, Zozo
has never shied from revealing how the power couple complemented each
other.“My fiancé and I complement each other in our relationship, and are
both businesspeople. As a woman, I don’t believe in looking up to men, I
believe we need to work hard and be independent so that men respect us,
but at the same time women should also give men the respect that is
due.”As an unpolished diamond in Bubi, Zozo revealed that her parents had
never foreseen a future for her as a high flying businesswoman, but had
instead wanted her to carve out a modest path in life as a teacher.“My parents wanted me to be a teacher, but later my father introduced
me to Nelson Samkange who was in the tourism industry and he took me
through the tourism ropes.“I did a diploma in (IATA) International Air Transport Association. I
also had a chance to work under a powerful lady called Nicky Phiri, a
woman who made me believe nothing was impossible. She was a hard
worker.”The Founder and Managing Director of Traverze Travel, one of the
leading leisure and corporate travel management companies in Zimbabwe
with branches in Zambia, South Africa and UK, Zozo was last year named
the International Businesswoman of the Year by Women4Africa awards.That and other successes she attributed to her tenacity.“Worry less about what people think. The people who judge you the
most are people who don’t know anything about you and judge you from
what they read and see on social media but don’t know where you are
coming from. When you worry about what people think, you take less risks
and even miss out on opportunities,” she said.Like the man believed to be her spouse, Zozo has also not been shy to flash her wealth on social media once in a while.

Earlier this year, she sent tongues wagging when she unveiled her Ranger
Rover 2018 as a birthday gift to herself, becoming the first owner of
such a car in South Africa.

While speculation on the nature of her union with Ginimbi continues,
there is no doubt that the girl from Bubi continues to soar. Sunday News